Harry Line Structure
The gecko pictured at right is Harry, an incredibly unique and interesting male that I acquired as a young adult back in 2004. This guy is a truly legendary crested gecko, and to this day, I've never seen anything quite like him that wasn't one of his descendants.
A Brief History of the Harry Line and its Infamous Crest Structure
Harry and his original breeding group of three females, including the original female Soft Scale, started off as a pet project that I would build off of, if it worked out - something that's so long-term, you just have it for fun and you don't expect it to yield much in the way of results. I generally don't care if a project like that ever sees the light of day...I just see something that piques my interest and I want to see what I can do with it.
20 years later, old Harry is still breeding, still with the same three females, his offspring have been sold to breeders all over the world and I am breeding his shaggy/spiny structure into every project I can. This one crested gecko has contributed more to the crest structure of my geckos as a whole than any other gecko in my collection.
So how is Harry's structure inherited?
While I've mostly worked on the theory that this structure was selectively bred, there is work being done by other breeders working with Harry line Soft Scale geckos, that may indicate Harry's shaggy structure may be the result of a genetic mutation, either incomplete dominant or recessive (which are essentially the same thing, only one can be visually identified in heterozygous form and the other cannot). Since I first saw Harry in 2003, the eventual goal has always been to introduce this structure into all of my projects. I remember a conversation back then, where I actually said to someone "Every crested gecko should have this structure, at least as far as I'm concerned."
The above gecko is a Super Soft Scale from the original Harry x Soft Scale lineage.
This is a Super Soft Scale Red Extreme Harlequin with Whiteout lateral markings. She has roots going back to the original Harry x Soft Scale project, amongst several others. While not quite as extreme as Harry, you can see it best in the upper back and neck region of the crest/pin structure.